Vodafone Idea reports Rs 6,432 crore loss
NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea, country’s third-largest telecom service provider, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 6,432 crore for the first quarter of financial year 2024-25, down from Rs 7,840 crore in the same period last year.
Revenue from operations fell 1.3% to Rs 10,508.3 croreas against Rs 10,655.5 crore a year earlier. However, the company improved its average revenue per user (ARPU) to Rs 146, up from Rs 139 a year ago. EBITDA on a reported basis was Rs 4,200 crore, and capital expenditure (capex) for the quarter was Rs 760 crore.
“Post the recent equity raise, we are in the process of expanding our 4G coverage and capacity as well as launch of 5G services. Some capex has already been ordered and under execution, basis which we expect 15% increase in our data capacity and an increase in 4G population coverage by 16 million by end September 2024,” said Akshaya Moondra, CEO of VIL.
Its 4G subscriber base grew for the 12 consecutive quarter, reaching 126.7 million at the end of Q1FY25, up from 122.9 million in Q1FY24. This represents an addition of 3.8 million 4G users over the past year. The total subscriber base stood at 210.1 million, largely due to changes in entry-level plans and subscriber upgrades.
Regarding its equity funding, VIL raised nearly Rs 24,000 crore in this calendar year, including Rs 18,000 crore via a follow-on public offering (FPO) in April 2024, about Rs 2,080 crore via a preferential issuance to ABG (promoter) entity in May 2024, about Rs 2,460 crore through a preferential issuance to Nokia and Ericsson in July 2024, and Rs 1,600 crore from conversion of optionally convertible debentures between March and July 2024. “This equity funding supports our capex rollout for building a high-quality 4G and 5G network to contribute to India’s digital transformation.”
Post-equity issuance, the promoters’ shareholding stands at 37.2%, while government shareholding is at 23.1%.